Many dyes derived from phenol derivatives or naphthol derivatives are known and include indophenol dyes and indoaniline dyes. These conventional dyes are useful as a skeleton which gives a bluish tone, and can be long-waved to the region near the infrared rays by modifying the skeleton with substituent groups. However, conventional dyes have a low molar extinction coefficient. Hence, a large amount of the dye must be used to obtain a desired density. Further, only some of the conventional dyes have sufficient fastness to heat and light.
Furthermore, the covering power of silver halide emulsions is an important factor for emulsion manufacturers. When an emulsion having a high covering power is used, the amount of silver required to provide a specific optical density can be controlled. Though the color tone of developed silver of emulsion grains which have a high covering power varies depending on grain size and thickness, the tone is yellowish and unpleasant to image observers. The yellowing phenomenon is caused by the reduced size and thickness of the developed silver. The reduction in grain size and thickness results in an increase in the scattering of the blue light component causing light which has a highly yellowish tone to be emitted. Accordingly, substantially water-insoluble dyes have been used to control the tone and to thereby prevent yellowing as disclosed in JP-A-60-154251 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and JP-A-61-285445. However, when dyes having a conventional structure are used, there is the disadvantage that the dyes have a secondary absorption in the region of light having a wavelength shorter than that of light in the principal absorption region. The yellowing of the image is caused by the secondary absorption. Further, when conventional dyes are added to silver halide emulsion layers, there is the disadvantage that the sensitivity of silver halide emulsions is lowered.